Many situations arise both in commercial and domestic environments where an account holder requires or desires a second person to make a payment on their behalf or simply to have the ability to make payments from their account whilst at the same time maintaining control over the payments which the second person makes. Examples where such a provision of access may be desired include where the account holder is an employer wishing to allow an employee to make payments using a company account, and where the account holder is a person wishing to allow a dependent to make payments using their account. Many more scenarios exist where such a need arises.
Some account providers currently offer a service which enables an account holder to delegate access to their bank account to a second person giving the second person the right to operate their account. However, such services tend to be aimed at individuals who, for whatever reason, are unable to manage their own accounts as such a delegation gives the second person unrestricted access and therefore the account holder must trust the second person not to abuse their position.
It is possible for an account holder to provide a second person with limited access to their account by using a restricted bank account. Restricted accounts enable a person or company opening the account to place predetermined restrictions on that account. Such accounts can have limitations on payment amounts, who can make those payments, how much can be withdrawn from the account, how often withdrawals can be made and when they can be made. However, these accounts do not allow the account holder any control beyond the predetermination of these restrictions.
Company accounts exist which allow authorised individuals to undertake transactions, etc., but the company has no direct control over such transactions made by the individual. Better control would be beneficial, for example, if users were able to carry out transactions up to a specified limit, but required enhanced authorisation to exceed that limit.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide account holders with a means for allowing a second person to have access to their account whilst being able to monitor, restrict and impose controls on the second person's use of that account if necessary.